18 best Jewish ballplayers - Yes Braun is included...

[BCZF]

Found this article in Salon:

 

Article Link

 

Here is the relevant text (although the rest of the article is worth a read):

 

" As luck would have it, 2007 has been a banner year for Jewish athletes, most notably on the baseball diamond. Ryan Braun, a third baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers, has led the charge, engineering one of the greatest rookie seasons in the history of the game. While most of his teammates have struggled in recent weeks, Braun has kept crushing the ball, keeping the Brewers in the race as they pursue their first division title in 25 years. And yes, Ryan Braun is a member of the tribe (Jewish, not a player for the Cleveland Indians). The great thing about being part of an exclusive group of athletes is that it allows a player to immediately jump to all-time-best status. Braun's meteoric rise has propelled him onto the list of the 18 greatest Jewish baseball players in history."

 

Sorry if this is posted elsewhere...

 

Fixed link - b19

[brewcrewnation]

i have a question, on a episode of save by the bell Zak wanted to go the a dodgers playoff game during school and the only way he could go was to say he was Jewish beacause that day was a Jewish holiday. MY question is there a Jewish holiday during the post season and would Ryan have to miss the game, if i remember correctly didn't a a Jewish player miss a game due to a holiday.

[brewers19]

Sandy Koufax refused to pitch Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it was Yom Kippur.

 

And considering the issues we had earlier this summer, I'm going to add a word of warning; any posts that stray from the current topic (which is fine) and into contentious religious/political commentary are getting deleted.

[whizkid]

Yom Kippur is sundown 9/21 to sundown 9/22 this year. Even the least observant often observe Yom Kippur. So Ryan could miss the 9/21 game at Atlanta. Sunset in Atlanta on 9/22 is 7:35, exactly when the game is scheduled to start, though he probably wouldn't be able to stretch, take BP or throw before the game.

[pitchleague]

I swear that last night I read the Braun article in Baseball Weekly and his mom was quoted as him being only half-Jewish and he doesn't celebrate it (not bar mitzvahed or anything). Mom also doesn't like the "Hebrew Hammer" moniker but allows it.

[Paul77]

I swear that last night I read the Braun article in Baseball Weekly and his mom was quoted as him being only half-Jewish and he doesn't celebrate it (not bar mitzvahed or anything). Mom also doesn't like the "Hebrew Hammer" moniker but allows it.

I'm glad his mom "allows" it.

 

[thebruce44]

Who else remembers the Matt Bernstein game vs. Penn where he had to wait until sundown to come in and rush for over 100 yds? I just remember him eating a chicken breast and like 5 oranges on the sideline in 2 min before coming in and destroying Penn St. defense.

[Invader3K]

Yeah, I asked this before in the chat, and kind of got jumped on...but I thought Braun was just ethnically Jewish, but doesn't observe the relgious beliefs? I could be mistaken. I know it's often a pretty blurred line between the two, but then again it's possible to celebrate the Jewish faith without being an ethnic Hebrew...just look at the Ethiopian Jews, for example.

[buckingham94]

Jewish guy to the rescue:

 

Braun is actually not technically Jewish, according to the information I have, which is that his father is Jewish and his mother is not. According to Jewish law, your Jewish "status" is dependent solely on your mother's side. Could be why his mother gets prickly about the issue, though it still would seem strange. Most "halfers" that I know consider themselves Jewish regardless of which parent is Jewish, and some would be offended at the idea of being considered "half a Jew." To each his own, I suppose.

 

Yom Kippur will occasionally wind up in October (dates vary because of the difference between solar and lunar calendars) but it is usually in September -- as another poster pointed out, it is in September this year. When in October, it would likely be in early October -- sounds like it's a non-issue for Ryan anyway.

 

As for Matt Bernstein, the story from the media was that he began his fast an hour before sundown on Erev Yom Kippur (Yom Kippur eve, if you will) so that he would end his fast an hour earlier the night of the Penn State game. He ate a meal in the locker room and I believe got some intravenous hydration (you can't drink either on Yom Kippur, which is really the more difficult part of the deal) then proceeded to go biblical on the Penn State defense. I would say the overwhelming majority of Jews are willing to bend the rules or even outright ignore them, though usually Yom Kippur gets more special treatment by even the least observant of Jews.

just look at the Ethiopian Jews, for example

I may be mistaken but I believe the contention by the Ethiopian Jews is that they ARE ethnically Jewish but got separated a long long long time ago from the rest of the tribe (we Jews have been spread out around the world for quite some time now) and over the course of many generations their brand of worship ceased to resemble mainstream Ashkenazic (eastern European) or Sephardic (mostly northern Africa) Judaism because it developed in isolation. The assertion is practically impossible to prove one way or the other, but isn't necessarily all that crazy as all of today's forms of Judaism barely resemble Jewish practice at the time the Jews were dispersed, about 2000 years ago. There is another tribe in Africa (I forget where, but I don't think it's in Ethiopia) that converted to Judaism within the last couple of centuries after making contact with some Jewish traders.

 

I believe I read somewhere that Kevin Youkilis skipped out on a game for Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashannah (generally considered the second most important holiday) within the last couple of years.

 

but then again it's possible to celebrate the Jewish faith without being an ethnic Hebrew

If you convert to Judaism with an Orthodox Rabbi, their position is that you were always nationally-speaking Jewish and just didn't know it. I'll leave my own opinions on that out of this, I'll just say I'm more of an ethnic Jew than a religious one. I just love brats, I can't help it, and I'm not going to temple on Saturday during a Badger football game.

[pitchleague]

to clarify, Braun's mom is Catholic according to the Baseball Weekly article. forgot to state that, in case anybody was wondering.

[BCZF]

Just to clarify, I didn't intend the link to the article to be a testament on his own personal faith, just drawing attention to the author of the article's own perception of Ryan and his relation to other ball players (albeit tenuous in his case) of the Jewish faith..

 

As I've said here before, my wife is an Executive Assistant to a prominent local rabbi, and he made it quite clear the Ryan is only half Jewish, but I still found the article a nice read as a Brewer fan..

 

Sorry to cause any problems bringing this up..

[pitchleague]

I didn't see any problems. I just added something from a different article.

 

No problem, here.

[TooLiveBrew]

Thanks for the great clarification buckingham94 (from a buckingham07 http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/wink.gif ) for all us lowly gentiles, ignorant of jewish traditions/history. That was an interesting read. A real good buddy of mine from college was a 'halfie', too, and really wasn't seriously into observing the faith as strictly as some, it sounds. Guess we'll have to wait 'til 9/21-22 to find out about Brawny!

[Mass Haas]

Pretty well-written (and accurate):

 

Let's let our Jewish athletes be Jewish, or not (Braun)

[bklynbrewcrew]

As a fellow Jew I am more than happy to claim Ryan Braun as one of our own. There really are very few Jewish athletes nowadays and none with a future as bright as Ryan Braun.

[bork]

So when will Adam Sandler do a new version of the Chanukah Song and include Braun?

[PlayerHader]

Probably whenever he becomes a Yankee. That's Sandler's team.